Plagued
by RainbowSerenity
Summary: /Clack/ SOLDIERs should be able to handle anything without complaint - except colds, where it's perfectly acceptable for them to turn into big ol' babies.


Warning: You may want to brush your teeth after reading this. Don't blame me if you get a mouth full of cavities. xD

Written for my fabulous friend Ainahim Twilightbait because she has pneumonia. And that sucks. D:

* * *

It was only a cold, but it might as well have been the end of the world.

"Ohhh Planet, just take me now! The plague! The plague has consumed me!"

Cloud rolled his eyes, sitting himself on the edge of Zack's bed. "You don't have the plague, you idiot." Zack sneezed in response. "It's just a cold. Maybe a touch of flu."

"No way, Spike. A cold doesn't feel this horrible." Zack groaned and sank into his pillows some more, flinging an arm over his eyes even though the only light in the room was from the TV neither guy was watching. Any other light apparently gave Zack a headache.

"You're a SOLDIER," Cloud said quietly, leaning forward to move Zack's arm so he could put a hand on his forehead. "You'll be better by tomorrow. It feels like your fever's already broken, actually."

Zack made an unintelligible noise, his eyes fluttering shut at Cloud's hand on his skin. Cloud noticed this and smiled softly, reaching up to brush away some of the bangs that had plastered themselves to the SOLDIER's sweaty forehead. It was nice. Peaceful, even, since Zack wasn't up to babbling a million words a minute.

Of course, he chose that moment to let out a whole freaking _parade_ of sneezes.

"Eww," Cloud muttered, jumping back so that those evil germs wouldn't get him, although it was probably a moot point by now. He'd been staying at Zack's place all week and exchanging all sorts of bodily fluids before the 'plague' had consumed the other, after all.

"Oh, you love it." Zack reached over and grabbed about ten tissues from his nightstand, using every single one to blow his nose. He threw them in the general direction of the trash, where it was already overflowing with used tissues.

"Not particularly." Cloud stared at it, thinking that he needed to find some gloves – or a hazmat suit - so he could take that out.

Zack just stared at him through bleary eyes. "If you didn't, you wouldn't be here."

"I love _you_, not your snot."

"Good point."

Cloud sighed and rolled his eyes again, but didn't move from his spot on the bed. He had a crapload of training to do, not to mention that his place was a mess and he simply couldn't concentrate on anything when his sock drawer looked like it had exploded, but he knew he couldn't leave. Zack was surprisingly a big baby when he was sick, whining like crazy when Cloud so much as left his side to go to the bathroom. He was lucky he didn't have anywhere else to be...not that he'd want to be anywhere else.

Even if Zack's nose _was_ running like a faucet.

"Heyyy, where are you going?" Zack whined when Cloud suddenly stood up, his eyes big and pleading.

"Something for your sneezing. Your nose looks gross right now. Plus, you need another tissue box and it's also time for another dose of your cough medicine."

"...Oh." Zack grinned at Cloud sheepishly before having another sneezing fit.

Cloud shook his head, getting away from the sneezing germs as quickly as he could. He wandered into the kitchen and rummaged through one of the cabinets, where he kept all the 'plague' stuff he'd bought the first night of Zack's cold. He had to keep it all in the kitchen since the medicine cabinet was already stuffed with hair products, and it's not like anybody ever used the kitchen. Cloud had been too busy to cook anything and you couldn't trust Zack to boil water.

After grabbing some sinus and cough meds, another tissue box, and filling a glass with orange juice – he wouldn't let Zack takes his meds with beer, no matter how much the SOLDIER claimed the stuff was crucial to his healing process – he lugged it all back into Zack's room, where the older man was lying utterly still except for his bare chest moving in time with his ragged breaths.

Even though Zack was all discolored from his cold and his nose was crusted with snot and even his hair seemed to droop with sickness, Cloud couldn't help but smile when he saw him. He'd never looked quite so cute and helpless, although may Gaia strike him down if he ever said that out loud. It was nice to be the one taking care of Zack for once, since it was usually the other way around.

"Hey," he said suddenly, snapping Zack out of his sudden trance. The SOLDIER glanced towards the doorway and grinned when he saw the blond, who couldn't help but melt when he saw that smile. Zack's grin suddenly made him seem a lot more healthy.

Until a sudden coughing fit interrupted that, of course.

Cloud sighed and quickly made his way across the room, plopping down on Zack's bed again and setting up all the stuff on the nightstand. He handed Zack the cough meds first, who downed it without complaint, even though it was that stuff that tasted like liquefied poisoned cherries. The orange juice seemed like almost punishment after that, but once again, Zack didn't complain, probably because he knew Cloud would sock him one across the jaw if he did.

After tearing into the new tissue box like his life depended on it and blowing his nose a couple dozen more times, Zack glanced up at Cloud and held out his arms. "C'mere."

"Do you _want_ me to contract the plague?"

"You'd most likely be sick already if you were gonna get it," Zack mumbled, still holding out his arms. His lower lip jutted out for added effect.

Nobody could resist that face, least of all Cloud. With a huge sigh that they both knew was just for show, he snuggled himself in Zack's arms, wrapping his own around the SOLDIER's waist. Zack felt like a hot water bottle – maybe his fever hadn't _quite_ broken yet, but he'd felt like a Firaga spell two nights ago, so anything was an improvement.

Zack gave a happy sigh, tightening his arms around Cloud. "Love you," he murmured quietly, his voice already thick with sleep.

"Love you too," Cloud whispered before falling into a deep sleep, comfortable as he always was lying against Zack.

* * *

I love 'em cute, what can I say? xD

**Reviews **are loved, unlike Zack's snot!


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